Sheriff's officer suspended pending internal probe

11:53 PM,
Dec. 3, 2012

James Clapp in a 2010 photo. At the time he was with the Rockland County Sheriff's Office's mounted unit.

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An off-duty Rockland County sheriff's deputy had his service pistol taken from him by two men last month during an early morning scuffle precipitated by road rage, according to Ramapo police reports obtained by The Journal News.

"You messed with the wrong person," Deputy James Clapp reportedly told one of the men, as the two exited their cars and argued. Clapp is next alleged to have tried to draw his handgun.

The men had just engaged in a tit-for-tat confrontation on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, said to have started about 2:45 a.m. Nov. 10 when Jose Lopez, 33, of West Haverstraw drove ...